Welcome to this course on malaria. We hope you will find it valuable and help you improve your practice in managing malaria.
Malaria has plagued humanity for thousands of years and is still a devastatingly deadly disease to this day. Malaria is responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths every year, and every 30 seconds, a child in Africa dies of malaria. As a pharmacist, you are an essential member of the healthcare workforce, with vital roles to play in preventing, caring for, and managing people who have malaria.
This course aims to up-skill you in the topics of disease control, recognition of symptoms, treatments, management and more whilst promoting positive changes to your practice. We hope that by the end of the course, you are empowered to utilise expert knowledge to ensure your patients are provided with the best possible education and support you can give them. In doing so, you contribute positively to the global efforts to control and eliminate malaria.
Funding Acknowledgements
This CPD course is supported through our strategic partnership with Novartis International AG. The views expressed in this course are solely those of the authors and contributors.
Management of Malaria Acknowledgements
Authors: Jimmy Hangoma, Dan Kibuule
Reviewers: Mary Kisima, Alphonsus Peter Naankut and CPA Development Team-Chiko Savieli, Monali Khachi, Meghna Joshi-von Heyden
Published: January 2023
Review date: January 2026
Learning outcomes
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Apply epidemiology and pathogenesis in the prevention and management of malaria.
- Recognise cases of malaria in the community based on symptoms.
- Demonstrate knowledge of anti-malarial pharmacotherapy in the selection of appropriate treatment regimens.
- Review the enhanced role of pharmacists in the prevention and management of malaria, and apply behaviour change principles to actively promote lasting changes.
BEHAVIOUR CHANGE
The purpose of this course is not only to improve your knowledge of malaria but to actively promote lasting changes in how you practice and approach your patients who have or are at risk of the disease.
Therefore, we have specifically designed certain aspects of the course to enhance and even challenge some of your existing behaviours and motivations so that you are better equipped moving forward.
We hope to promote positive changes, with a priority on improving the following behaviours for pharmacists:
• Raising awareness in patient communities by proactively disseminating current knowledge.
• Reduce the risk of death from severe malaria by ensuring timely and accurate identification of the signs and symptoms of malaria and referring appropriately.
• Reduce resistance by adhering to and implementing current guidelines
As you work through the course, take time to reflect on the factors that may influence your ability to perform these behaviours. Consider if you have the knowledge, skills and resources to perform each behaviour. Lastly, reflect on whether you have the motivation and social support or do you already consistently carry out each behaviour.
At the end of the modules, there is a section targeting a particular behaviour change related that we would like you to focus on. To get the most out of this course, we encourage you to participate fully in these sections, which may involve chances for you to reflect on what you currently do or think about the steps you can take to improve in the future.
Before we begin the course, have a go at completing the baseline knowledge quiz. This quiz aims solely to measure your baseline understanding before taking the course. There will be another quiz at the end of the course to check your progress. Please note that you can only attempt this quiz once.